I am at a crossroads in regards to The Gamer Traveler…

I started this project years ago when I wanted to do a podcast and the one niche I knew I could fill unchallenged was Travel & Games. It worked and over the years I have certainly enjoyed doing the podcast and then the blog posts when time to record became an issue. The thing is, as you can clearly see if you look at the gaps in time between posts, it isn’t something I am doing a lot lately (and by lately I mean the last couple of years).

It is a simple fact that the niche I cover is a very small one, so there won’t be news of interest to report and talk about all the time, but even so, I find that time to dedicate to this project is the biggest problem.

A very practical solution would be to simply say thank you for your support and hang up the hat, but I’ll be honest, I don’t want to do that. Though I do it rarely, I enjoy working on The Gamer Traveler. I am proud of the unique angle on gaming it has and it is something I would like to continue doing.

Selfish statement said, the reality is that by myself, it will continue to be a sporadically-updating project. Would getting contributors be a possibility? I know I have two friends who have written posts that I could drop into The Gamer Traveler without a problem as they fit the format perfectly. Perhaps doing that on a semi-regular basis would be the way to go? Would there be people out there interested in exploring the crossroads between Travel & Games along with me?

What do you think? I’m thinking out loud here and would appreciate the feedback.

This is just a quick post to let you know that I will be closing and deleting the @GamerTraveler Twitter account. The change will go in effect on Sunday, March 7 (at some point during the day).

The blog isn’t going away; this is only an administrative move. I have a personal Twitter account, @Highmoon, that I have gone back to using exclusively since late last year as I seek to unify my online presence. Keeping two accounts is no longer something I can do while paying attention to them both, so this one’s going away in favor of my primary one.

If you have enjoyed being a follower of @GamerTraveler, and wish to remain connected, go ahead and follow me over at @Highmoon. It’s still me, tweeting about the same stuff (games & travel), plus some other things as well.

I hope to catch you there.

Folks following me on Twitter (@GamerTraveler) over the last few days got to experience my frustration as I redesigned the TGT website. I was looking to apply a magazine-style theme to WordPress, but those suckers have so many fiddly bits that they were just not working here for whatever reason. I liked the previous look just fine, and maybe one day I’ll go back to it, but it was time for a change, and thus I went with my second theme choice, Atahualpa. Take a look:

I finally did a new header banner based on the pre-installed one my previous theme had, as well as custom favicon based on the “world d20″ logo. This theme’s structure allows me to spread out information much better along two sidebars and leaves a lot of space for possible future use. The central story area is spacious so articles, most of which I publish with images, do not seem cramped, a pet-peeve of mine. The theme’s width is fluid so hopefully that means people with smaller screens than mine (1680×1050) won’t have a problem with the site either.

FYI, when I was doing the last few tweaks today, it was found that there were some suspicious iframes hiding in the code of highmoonmedia.com, the parent site for this website, and that was giving some people a warning notice. Thanks to Stuart Robertson (@RobertsonGames) I was able to find all the annoying instances and delete them. The site is working fine now, and you can confirm it via Google Safe Browser.

Even though I will probably continue to tweak it here and there, all in all I’m very happy with the new look, and I hope you like it as well.

Once upon a time, I wanted to write a roleplaying game about the experience and act of traveling (the truth is that for years I have wanted such a game, and since I could not find one to fill that gap, I decided I would write it myself). I even had the name picked: Grand Tour. Problem was I didn’t really have a solid idea of how to structure it and I found myself floundering too much. I decided to shelve it for a while and look at it at some other point to see if things had improved. That was 2 years ago and I haven’t looked at that file since. Today, while browsing the Story Games forum, I came across a thread on games to be released at Gen Con, and this one gem caught my eye almost immediately:

Posted By: joepub
At the Design Matters booth, I’ll be releasing Ribbon Drive. It’s a game about road trips, and letting go on the open road. Mix CDs are an integral and driving part of the game. It’s diceless, GMless and easy for new gamers to pick up. It’s an intense game, but a slow-burning and soft one, too.

It’s sold with a mix CD (featuring some really cool artists).

Wow. I immediately checked out the website and boy, have I found a new game to fall in love with. Check out the full description:

In Ribbon Drive, we collectively create a story about a road trip. We do this in the comfort of a living room, over the course of 3-5 hours. We each create a character, one of the people going on this road trip. These characters are our individual jobs; each of us will roleplay one character’s decisions and actions. We’ll share the responsibility of narrating the obstacles and scenery that comes up all around us. Ribbon Drive creates stories about letting go on the open road, and we all work to both further and complicate this agenda during the game. It draws inspirations from road movies like Wristcutters, Everything Is Illuminated, y tu Mama Tambien, Little Miss Sunshine, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and Thelma & Louise (and, to a lesser extent, Two Lane Blacktop, The Doom Generation and Wild At Heart). Our ultimate goal is to create a thought-provoking, meaningful experience. We let the music guide us. We let the road throw us curves. As our characters, we rethink our attachment to the future.

That description fills me with excitement, and if the game performs as billed, it seems I may not have to write Grand Tour after all, Joe McDonald may have written it for me already! Since I won’t be going to Gen Con, I will be ordering this game as soon as I am able and putting together a session a minute after that. Expect a full review sometime in the near future. In the meantime, check out the Ribbon Drive webpage (in case you also want to order it now) and the playlist of the Mix CD that comes with it.

I already told you about Eberron D&D Campaign Setting-designer Keith Baker and his plan to travel the world, trading hospitality for gaming (and if you haven’t read that post, please do so). By late July, 2009, Keith has already traveled quite a nice chunk of the United States, as well as portions of the UK and Europe. The only news from Keith, however, were coming in scattered and short bursts via his LiveJournal, completely understandable when you figure the man is busy traveling the world, meeting new gamers and playing games on every landmass possible. That is about to change, however.

Keith has finally launched his dedicated site for this round-the-world madness, Have Dice, Will Travel. At the moment, the one post available is a quick introduction to Keith and to his travel project, a post that I recommend everyone reads even if they are aware of what Keith is doing. The tone is far more candid than the just-the-facts-ma’am posts on LiveJournal have been, and promises a good course for this new gaming-related travel blog. I for one have it already on my RSS reader and cannot wait to start seeing new posts come through.

Sadly, since I won’t be going to Gen Con this year, I will not have the opportunity to interview Keith in person for The Gamer Traveler Podcast. That said, I continue to be in touch with Keith so that we can do that interview as soon as it is convenient for him.

Drop by Have Dice, Will Travel and start following the adventures of a true, on-the-road, gamer traveler.

This magnificently bizarre mansion not far from my own home in Miami Beach burned completely this morning. Take a look at these photos and marvel.

[RAW]

I mean seriously, check out the house from Google Maps’ satellite view. Isn’t that amazing?

[RAW]

I wrote the following post for Miami Metblogs. I reprint it here because it is, strangely enough, on topic for this blog. I guess now we’ll have the Miami Beach ruins instead!

The Miami Beach castle boasted iron gates, gargoyles, turrets, towers, parapets, a draw bridge and a 65,000 gallon salt water moat filled with sand sharks. It also had fantastical sculptures inside, like a dragon by a small pool. Not that I knew all this before today. The castle was, sadly, abandoned when the previous owner up and died from an overdose (The Herald has the whole sordid story) and was left to languish in very expensive solitude.

This castle was not far from my house, and whether it was driving to get out of the Beach, or (especially) riding my bike, I would take a moment, whenever I could, to stop by and marvel at this utterly bizarre gem and wish I could go inside. This place should not have been left unused; this place should have been rented out for events, films, videos. This amazing strangeness should have been an attraction in Miami Beach. Frankly, this place should have been the site for many roleplaying game conventions. Can you think of anything more fitting than playing Dungeons & Dragons here?

I am utterly bummed by this loss. In a city with more than its fair share of expensive and massive monuments to ridiculosity, the dark-stoned, gargoyle-guarded castle of Miami Beach stood uniquely apart. Maybe I only speak for myself, but it shall be missed.

See photos of the house and fire at Herald.com.

Also see these photos from the real estate listing at NelsonGonzalez.com. I can’t help but think this listing will soon be taken down.

Not to be outdone by Tokyo, the city of Kobe is now planning to unveil their own gigantic mecha guardian, the venerable Tetsujin 28 (aka Gigantor), as an 18-meter/59-feet 1:1 scale statue. The project is expected to cost $1.4 million, with about a third being paid by the city of Kobe, the rest being funded by businesses and donations. The statue’s unveiling is on Oct 4, 2009 and will be located at the Shin-Nagata Train Station in Kobe, Japan.

Originally a manga from the mid-1950s, Tetsujin was later adapted into a TV series which was the first to feature a giant robot, a trend that developed into its own genre. Compared to the more sleek and sharp-angled Gundam in Tokyo, Tetsujin has a rounder, more retro look that makes it equally as cool; Tetsujin is pulp-mecha, if you will.

Check out this post from Danny Choo for photos of the assembly of Tetsujin, as well as some videos.

I think that it is obvious now that Japan is indeed preparing their new mecha army and that we are about to witness the heralds of this new era with Gundam and Tetsujin. I for one welcome our new mecha overlords.

What I want to know now is: when is the Macross Valkyrie statue coming? And will it transform? Come on Japan, make me happy!

Well, not quite. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the seminal mecha series MS Gundam, an 18-meter/59 feet-tall statue of the iconic RX-78-2 Gundam is being raised at Tokyo’s Odaiba island, specifically in Shiokaze Park. You can see more pictures of the Gundam on this post by The Mainichi Daily Post and some taken at night at this post by Pink Tentacle.

The 35-ton Gundam is fully lit for dramatic effect, as can be seen in the nighttime pictures, and can swivel its head and project mist or light from 50 different points in its body.

The official unveiling is on July 11, 2009 and it will be displayed free of charge through August 31, 2009. The statue, as you can see, however, is already up and assembled (maybe they’ll be adding some extras, like a weapon?). Frankly I’m not gonna be surprised if come its official unveiling, it is revealed to be a fully-functional mecha heralding the new era of the Japanese Army.

You know, because Japan wasn’t cool enough as it is, they had to go and create a national monument based on an anime series! I would love to go see the Gundam in person (heck, I get excited when I see the Lego mecha at Downtown Disney, I can’t imagine how I’d react to this!). Since a trip to Japan in the next two months is just not in my schedule, perhaps this giant pile of awesome could go on a traveling tour of the world? It doesn’t guarantee I’d get to see it, but many more Gundam fans around the world would.

I mean, am I the only one thinking “giant-sized BattleTech” right about now? If any of my readers gets to see this bad boy up close and personal, please let me know and post many many pictures.

Below is a Google Map of the location of the Gundam sculpture (it’s the little person-shaped icon) in Odaiba’s Shiokaze Park, Tokyo.

[RAW]

View Spoon’s Central Tokyo Map in a larger map.
[/RAW]

You probably know him as the designer of the card game Gloom, or perhaps even more so as the creator of Eberron, the pulp-fantasy setting for D&D. At this point in time, however, you should know Keith Baker first and foremost as a gamer traveler, and one who, on his current tour, could very well steal that title from me, and rightly so.

For various reasons, Keith decided that 2009 would be a year of travel, so he concocted a plan he calls “Have Dice, Will Travel,” where he has set out to travel as much of the world as possible, exchanging hospitality along the way for an exclusive game session. In his own words:

One of my primary goals here is to meet interesting gamers across the world. If you’re an ideal subject, then I’d like to have some time to get to know you and your home. As such, what I’d like is hospitality (be it bed, couch, or floor space) for three nights. One of those nights, I will entertain you and your friends – running Eberron or OTE, playing Gloom, whatever you want. Another night, I’d like YOU to entertain ME. What is it that you feel I should see in your home? Not necessarily the biggest tourist attraction – but the thing YOU think is most interesting. Is there a game YOU want me to play that I’m not going to find anywhere else? Something that inspired you as a gamer? Or just the Biggest Ball of Twine in Oslo? The third day, I’ll rest, write, and mind my own business… look at things that have caught MY eye. In the meantime, I’m always willing to talk about gaming, writing, Eberron, or what have you. Needless to say, you’re welcome to spread these three days out over your gaming group; I’m happy to spend a night on three different sofas, as long as my goal is met.

Of course, I’m simply not going to have time to spend three days with every interesting person (and I’m sure there will be many people who just don’t fit on my travel map). So I’ll also be looking for flyby visits – crashing just one night while I’m en route, either running a game for you or just hanging out and talking.

Keith quickly discovered that gamers are a hospitable bunch and his travel suddenly included the opportunity to go all across the United States, Central and South America, Europe, the Far East, Australia and more. Whether he’ll be able to make a specific geographical area remains to be seen, but the offers are there.

After a few false starts, Keith’s tour began in April with a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah; followed by Boise, Idaho; then up to the Pacific Northwest, to Portland, Oregon (where he gamed with Chibell and his group, and from where the image above comes from, along with an entire set at Flickr) and Seattle, Washington. From there Keith has been working his way south, into California, and who knows where he’s headed next! The only inkling he has given to his general travel plans is a list of conventions he is quite likely to be attending during the year.

Though born out of a tough situation, “Have Dice, Will Travel” is an amazing journey through the gaming world, and one I (and I cannot stress this enough) so wish I could do myself. Aside from the travel, taking him to explore a myriad of places in this wonderful world of ours, Keith also gets to meet and spend time, gaming time, with groups all across the world, learning firsthand how gaming varies from place to place, and yet how it truly becomes a lingua franca for the gamer traveler, a common activity that transcends borders.

You can follow Keith’s travels over on his LiveJournal: Gloomforge or on this thread at EN World. Read up on what’s there already and if Keith will be in your neighborhood, then drop by to say hi and give him encourangement to continue his incredible tour. I will continue to monitor Keith’s whereabouts, and hopefully get an interview with him for The Gamer Traveler Podcast at some point in the future.

Though I’ve posted a couple of things since announcing that I was taking a break, for the most part I have stayed away from the blog (though I’m always to be found chatting away on Twitter). I’ve used the time to catch up on some personal stuff and gather quite a few things to talk about.

So, this is just to let you know the hiatus is over and you can expect new regular posts from The Gamer Traveler as of Tuesday of next week (holiday weekend and all). Hope to see you then when I tell you about the game designer who is currently gunning for my title, and the best gamer city.

As Ah-nold would say, “I’m Back.”